Searching for a mixer for Ableton
Searching for a mixer for Ableton Posted on: 20.03.2012 by Sylvia Greener Hey everybody!I just got into production and mainly use Ableton Live for music production at the moment. As I believe hardware would be much more comfortable than mouse and keyboard for editing parameters, volume etc. I was looking for a mixer which is MIDI-capable (or capable of another protocoll which communicates with Ableton). I just had a look at the Mackie Control Universal Pro which is already quite fine (motorfaders, transport section etc.), but I would love to have some more encoders for having to use "Shift"-Switches less. Nicest would be a controller that looks almost like an analog mixer with several rows of encoders. But as far as I've not yet found one I would like to hear your suggestions! (P.S.: I'm not talking about such a 50.000$ Protools mixer, budget is probably not much higher than 2000 if really necessary.) | |
| Rolanda Clodfelder 22.04.2012 |
Originally Posted by MrDudeMan
VCM600 plus a Novation Launchpad. The APCs just feel cheap. If you had the Vestax/Novation combo you wouldn't be wanting for much.
BUT the VCM doesn't have endless knobs or motorized faders which is a total deal breaker for the OP (and me) soft-takeover is NOT a solution here hence the reason he does not want an APC either. The reason the OP wants motorized faders is to control 20+ channels at a time without using soft-takeover - Read back a few pages before posting. |
| Brock Ricapito 22.04.2012 |
Originally Posted by MrDudeMan
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| Rolanda Clodfelder 21.03.2012 |
Originally Posted by RockingClub
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| Sylvia Greener 21.03.2012 |
Originally Posted by deevey
Qcon or Alesis Master Control are quite nice but still without more encoders. But quite love your idea of using Mackie + livid Code! That would be pretty much it. In contrast to the other devices I never got to know from the Livid Code, but now with the knowledge about it things seem to look much easier! (It's a shame the Mackie C4 is no longer sold...) Great recommendation! Btw: the case for these two Behringer devices: Is it DIY or commercially available? |
| Sylvia Greener 22.04.2012 | @deevey: Again you put my thoughts into words. You'll be employed as my lawyer one day Nevertheless: Thanks for everyone's ideas! |
| Jaclyn Minjarez 22.04.2012 | I have a VCM 600 that I would part with for a reasonable price. Hit me up if your interested. Works great with Ableton. |
| Rolanda Clodfelder 22.04.2012 |
Originally Posted by MrDudeMan
VCM600 plus a Novation Launchpad. The APCs just feel cheap. If you had the Vestax/Novation combo you wouldn't be wanting for much.
BUT the VCM doesn't have endless knobs or motorized faders which is a total deal breaker for the OP (and me) soft-takeover is NOT a solution here hence the reason he does not want an APC either. The reason the OP wants motorized faders is to control 20+ channels at a time without using soft-takeover - Read back a few pages before posting. |
| Margarite Jayme 22.04.2012 | Maybe I should have prefaced that as "next to a VCM600". The VCM just feels in a different league. |
| Brock Ricapito 22.04.2012 |
Originally Posted by MrDudeMan
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| Margarite Jayme 21.04.2012 | VCM600 plus a Novation Launchpad. The APCs just feel cheap. If you had the Vestax/Novation combo you wouldn't be wanting for much. |
| Sylvia Greener 19.04.2012 | Nice idea. |
| Rolanda Clodfelder 18.04.2012 | Instead of painting you could try Car Dash Vinyl Wrap for that super unique look hehe. |
| Sylvia Greener 18.04.2012 | In the mean-time I have started believeing about buying some Behringer BCF/BCR stuff and repainting it. That would save up money for production stuff like new monitor headphones, two new soft-synth and more. Maybe I'll give it a try soon. Quite busy at the moment |
| Sylvia Greener 21.03.2012 | Alright! Nice info! |
| Rolanda Clodfelder 21.03.2012 |
Originally Posted by RockingClub
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| Sylvia Greener 22.03.2012 | Just had a look at it and found a review where was said, that unfortunately only a few (believe they said 8) faders are really Midi-capable. Though I don't know if this is truely right... |
| Rolanda Clodfelder 21.03.2012 | Another idea I was toying with for a while which might interest you, is Behringers lighting console with midi out. http://www.thomann.de/ie/behringer_l...tmischpult.htm OK so not motorized faders BUT 24 of them which would be enough for "most" projects, and a good few buttons to play, its a decent enough all metal chassis. Also from what I can of the manual you can program lighting chases and run it like an automated step sequencer, always wanted to try it out but current location unfortunately prevents me getting one to test. You can download the manual on their site and check how midi is assigned, I remember looking at it before and saw possibilities .. Paired with a Code it could be very interesting. The case for the BCR is DIY btw - sad to say, the side panels come off pretty easy though and you could bolt 2 units together at the bottom (like the APC80) and put nice wooden edges on them easy enough |
| Sylvia Greener 21.03.2012 |
Originally Posted by deevey
Qcon or Alesis Master Control are quite nice but still without more encoders. But quite love your idea of using Mackie + livid Code! That would be pretty much it. In contrast to the other devices I never got to know from the Livid Code, but now with the knowledge about it things seem to look much easier! (It's a shame the Mackie C4 is no longer sold...) Great recommendation! Btw: the case for these two Behringer devices: Is it DIY or commercially available? |
| Rolanda Clodfelder 21.03.2012 | I hear where you are coming from on the 30 tracks .. pain in the ass alright without the motor faders :-S You do know you can get the Behringer in white though a BCR and one or 2 BCR's though would give you more control if you have the space. Mackie + livid Code perhaps ? Shame that digidesigns controllers won't work in Ableton Alesis Master Control ? Personally I'd go for heaps (3 or 4) of Behringers BTW the Zero 8 is only 599 Pounds right now in HTF brand new ! :-O http://www.htfr.com/p/253588/korg_ze..._channel_mixer I really don't like the look of that icontrols (looks like a big nanokontrol) But their Qcon looks gorgeous and has a street price of under $800 ...
You can change the takeover mode in ableton to make the faders worked when jumping between different channels. or whatever it's called in Ableton. I jsut always refer to it as "soft take-over" mode from when I used my APC40 with traktor
Its uncomfortable to use in production at best and not a hope in hell I could use soft takeover in a live situation either, I know others do it, but its a personal thing I guess. I need a knob/fader/button assigned to every task individually unless they are encoders or motorized. I'm guessing the OP is of the same opinion. |
| Jonathan Chiuchiolo 20.03.2012 | icon icontrols pro it's 200 pounds from Juno... It has touch sensitive motorised faders and 9 encoders with led feedback on all the buttons pair it up with an icon istage and you have a mastering and arrangement setup for about $450US |
| Brock Ricapito 20.03.2012 | Why are motorized faders so important, just wondering. You can change the takeover mode in ableton to make the faders worked when jumping between different channels. or whatever it's called in Ableton. I jsut always refer to it as "soft take-over" mode from when I used my APC40 with traktor |
| Sylvia Greener 20.03.2012 |
Originally Posted by Patch
@ajrindy & deevey Already considered the APC 40 for myself and you're absolutely right. In most aspects and especially for live usage the APC 40 is the hottest controller on the market. Though for production, when you are sitting in front of an arrangement with for example 30 tracks and there are no motorfaders, and you have to keep pressing shift buttons etc. to get the right EQ Channel and parameters it takes a lot of the fun. Nevertheless, to be realistic, APC 40 seems to be one of the best solutions. Wish the K2s had only endless encoders, then switching layers would be a bit more easy (no need for collect-mode with danger to turn the knob to far...) BTW: Don't like Behringer products so much... . Maybe it's simply because of the ugly blue I know, it's quite difficult if not impossible to find exactly what I'm looking for, especially to have everything in one device. Nevertheless: Maybe one of you will find exactly something like that... Thanks for your recommendations so far! |
| Rolanda Clodfelder 20.03.2012 |
Originally Posted by Patch
Once you press "record" all the controller movements or button presses are recorded and saved regardless of clicking back to arrangement. |
| Brunilda Kora 20.03.2012 |
enhance the workflow
For production in Live, you'll be drawing in automation using the mouse. If you're adjusting things (volume, EQ, etc...) using a midi controller none of that will be recorded and will disappear when you click "Back to Arrangement"... |
| Rolanda Clodfelder 20.03.2012 |
Originally Posted by ajrindy
However I'm believeing that a few K2's and/or Behringer CMD's once they all get released would be a wicked setup for live and give even more hands on control to all the parameters rather than needing to switch banks all the time or compromise on channel EQ's. If its really motor faders you want you could go the ol' BCF2000 route mind you, cheap as chips and reliable. |
| Brock Ricapito 20.03.2012 | no one said APC40?! get the APC40. you have access to faders for all channels, and practically speaking, unlimited encoders to use. the device control section will control whichever effect or effect rack (and macro bank) you currently have selected, so you can hop between devices and always be controlling whichever parameters you need. if you need a shit ton of encoders and that's all you need, consider a BCR2000 |
| Sylvia Greener 20.03.2012 |
Originally Posted by Ashigari
Originally Posted by synthet1c
Originally Posted by Patch
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| Jonathan Chiuchiolo 20.03.2012 | Other than the Zero8 the vestax VCM-600 is another contender they are pretty cheap these days if you get them second hand... [c][/c] |
| Brunilda Kora 21.03.2012 | Nothing wrong with producing with a mouse. It's the only way I do it. A better way to speed up what your doing is to learn all the key shortcuts in Live. |
| Patty Mcgilbra 21.03.2012 | Korg Zero 4/8 maybe? |
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